Smith, Alonso Among Mets Minor League Organizational All-Stars

MiLB.com has amassed their list of the Mets minor league players who had the best 2017 campaigns. As noted in their piece, this list is not comprised on the weight of a prospect’s status within an organization, but rather based on how well they performed on the field.

Looking over the organization’s overall season for their affiliates, it is difficult to argue with this list. With that said, it is interesting to see how MiLB factored in defense when it came to evaluating each player’s spot on this list.

First, Alonso was not used primarily as a DH this season. However, MiLB likely considered him one after struggling defensively at first whereas Smith was noted as being a fine first baseman in Las Vegas. Putting Alonso at DH also allowed MiLB to honor two of the best seasons had by a Mets minor leaguer.

The other thing that was of interest was how defense was weighted. Arguably, Michael Paez had a better offensive season than Guillorme posting a 152 wRC+ in Columbia as opposed to Guillorme’s 103 for the season. However, with Paez falling off with St. Lucie (82 wRC+), and the outstanding defense of Guillorme, that was the correct decision.

Finally, there was the selection of Urena over other more defensively capable third baseman like David Thompson or Rigoberto Terrazas. While fielding percantage is not the end-all, be-all, Urena struggled at third base and was even shifted over to first for 35 games. Considering the .348/.413/.486 slash line Terrazas posted this past season, you could say he should have received the nod over Urena at third base.

John was raised to be a Mets fan by birth, and now he is raising a Mets fan of his own. He also uses Sabermetrics to either confirm the proverbial eye test or to see if we're seeing things with Mets colored glasses. He looks forward to bringing this perspective to MMO. His work, including the tales of raising his son a Mets fan, can also be seen at MetsDaddy.com.